Winsted's Region 7 school board nixes pay to play proposal

Winsted >> Students will not have to pay to play sports after the Northwestern Region 7 Board of Education voted 5 to 2 to deny the motion to implement a fee structure for activities at the Board's meeting on Wednesday night.

The issue was tabled from the Board's Oct. 10 meeting in order to have full board attendance.

The failure of the fee structure motion stemmed from several concerns which were voiced by the Board prior to voting. One of which was that the fee would put a burden on tax payers and the staff.

"I think it will put a burden on the staff and the people that have to perform this process which I can see going onto the students who are supposed to be enjoying their activities. I don't see this as being a smooth process," said Deb Bell, board member.

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Other board members agreed with this notion of trying to eliminate more hassle and inconvenience for the families.

"As a tax payer, a board member and a parent, I don't want to do this to the students and parents so I vote entirely against it," said Don Torrant, board member. "I don't want to see the coaches as a collection agency. Focus on the child and not the money."

Another significant concern of the Board was that the fee would dissuade students from participating in the sport's activities.

"An activity fee of any kind, is not something I want to do because I think there will be kids on the margin, whether athletic skills or family problems, who will not ask for a waiver and will not try out," said board chairman, Molly Sexton-Read. "Those kids on the margin will be effected negatively."

The positive remarks to defend implementation of the fee structure were that it would give relief to tax payers who are currently paying for transportation costs for the activities.

"Anything we can do to eliminate the burden on the tax payers we should take," said Noel Gauthier, board member. "I would like to see us give it a try."

Even though the fee structure will not be implemented into the budget for the 2013-2014 fiscal year, the issue will never really go away, according to Sexton-Read.